1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector ensuring a reliable connection between terminals thereof and a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Portable electrical or electronic appliances normally use electrical connectors to transmit signals. The electrical connectors often have metal shields enclosing the housings thereof for preventing electromagnetic interference. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,799, 5,692,912, 5,356,300 and 5,125,853 show such electrical connectors. These electrical connectors either have a large dimension or have a complicated manufacturing process. Connector Specifier published in March 2000 has an article named xe2x80x9cDocking Connectors Simplify Drive Designsxe2x80x9d on Pages 16 and 17, which introduces some related electrical connectors. Such information is submitted herewith by Information Disclosure Statement.
Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,556, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses a related electrical connector 7. The electrical connector 7 has a metal shield 71, an insulative housing 72 and a plurality of terminals 73 fixed in the housing 72. The metal shield 71 has a top wall 710, two side walls 712 with a pair of fastening portions 718 extending respectively therefrom and a bottom wall 715. A pair of latches 714 extends from the top wall 710 with a pair of grooves 716 defined respectively therein. A pair of plates 711 extends from the side walls 712 respectively with a pair of mating holes 713 defined respectively therein. The housing 72 has an upper wall 720, two side walls 725 with a pair of channels 728 defined respectively therein and a lower wall 723 with a pair of posts 721 extending therefrom. A pair of depressions 722 is defined in the upper wall 720 for receiving the latches 714 of the shield 71. A pair of blocks 724 is formed by the housing 72 respectively in the depressions 722 for engaging with the grooves 716. The fastening portions 718 respectively extend through the channels 728 and are bent outwardly to engage with protrusions 719 formed on a rear face of the housing 72. When the electrical connector 7 is assembled to a printed circuit board (PCB) 8, the pair of posts 721 engages into corresponding holes (not shown) of the PCB 8, so that a bottom surface of the lower wall 723 of the housing 72 is mounted to the PCB 8.
However, a bottom surface of the bottom wall 715 of the shield 71 is not coplanar with the bottom surface of the lower wall 723 of the housing 72, so that a gap is formed between the bottom surface of the bottom wall 715 and the PCB 8, whereby a front end of the electrical connector 7 is not supported on the PCB 8 when the electrical connector 7 is assembled thereto. Accordingly, the electrical connector 7 tends to incline forwardly, causing tail portion of the terminals 73 which are to be surface mounted to the printed circuit board 8 to not entirely abut against corresponding solder pads (not shown) on the printed circuit board. A gap is formed between the tail portions 732 and the corresponding solder pads, resulting in an inferior soldering or even a possible void soldering of the tail portions 732. Thus, a reliable connection between the terminals 73 and the PCB 8 can not be established. In addition, since the electrical connector 7 is not stably supported on the PCB 8, a mating of the connector with a complementary connector (not shown) may adversely affect the soldering joint between the terminals 73 and the PCB 8. Furthermore, the fastening portions 718 of the shield 71 which are bent away from the housing 72 occupy more space.
Hence, an improved electrical connector with an improved connection between the terminals and the PCB and occupying less space is needed to solve the above problems.
It is an object of this invention to provide an electrical connector reliably supported on a printed circuit board (PCB) to ensure a reliable connection between terminals thereof and the PCB.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an electrical connector occupying less space.
The electrical connector in accordance with the present invention includes an insulative housing, a plurality of terminals and a metal shield. The housing has a body portion having a front wall, a rear wall, a top wall and two side walls, and a mating portion projecting forwardly from the front wall. The two side walls respectively have a pair of gaps defined therethrough. The rear wall defines a pair of notches in communication with the gaps. The mating portion defines a plurality of passageways for receiving contacting sections of the terminals. The top wall of the housing has a pair of depressions and a pair of blocks formed on bottoms of the respective depressions. The shield has an upper wall, a lower wall and two side walls. The lower wall of the shield has a pair of downwardly protruding portions formed thereon. The top wall has a pair of latches each defining a slot for engaging with corresponding block of the housing. The side walls of the shield respectively form a pair of bending portions projecting through corresponding gaps of the housing and bending inwardly into corresponding notches. A plate extends outwardly from each bending portion with a mounting hole defined therein.